The Best European Heavyweights - That Don't Come From the UK

Independent

2 days ago

For what has seemed to be the longest of times, the heavyweight rankings have been dominated by UK fighters.
A quick look at BoxRec underlines this. Of the top ten heavyweights in the world, five - Daniel Dubois, Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, Lawrence Okolie, and Fabio Wardley - are British.
(Wardley, by the way, is fighting this weekend on DAZN, alongside #14-ranked Dillian Whyte who will appear in an undercard bout at Portman Road.)
The concentration of nationalities becomes more fragmented as you move out from the top ten and into the top twenty. Eight of the twenty best heavyweights in the world come from the UK, with a further two more (Joe Joyce and Moses Itauma) in the top thirty.
Looked at from a European perspective, seven of the continent's top ten heavyweights, and eleven of the top twenty come from the UK.
There are many fine heavyweights within the continent, many of them beginning to encroach on UK dominance.
Agit Kabayel (#3)
The Bochum, Germany-based heavyweight, 26-0 (18), has been hanging around the heavyweight division for years, looking for a big fight that will put him within the world-championship level.
If the world heard anything of Kabayel, it was in 2017 when he outpointed Derek Chisora over twelve rounds in Monte Carlo. But Kabayel has largely trodden water since then: his fight with gatekeeper Kevin Johnson in Magdeburg was a minor classic, and he had to pick himself off the floor to win the European title against Agron Smakici in another fight that some would call a 'thriller'.
The problem is that Kabayel may have too much against him—he is a little on the short side at 6'3' and he can both spoil and slow down a fight, and punch when he wants, too. He also does not bring much in the way of public profile; his last few fights within Germany have taken place at smaller arenas such as the Seebuehne in Magdeburg or the RuhrCongress in Bochum.
To put himself into the mix, Kabayel has travelled to Saudi Arabia for his last three fights and seemingly as the b-side in all of them: in 2023, he stopped Arslanbek Makhmudov in four rounds, then returned six months later to knock out Frank Sanchez in seven. Those two bouts gifted him a fight against Zhilei Zhang, whom he stopped in six rounds in February.
That fight won Kabayel the interim WBC championship, but a match against one of the division's big names—Joshua, Fury, Usyk, Dubois—has yet to materialise. And given that Kabayel is now 32, his chances are slimming for him to make an impact against the next generation of heavyweights that are about to come through.
Filip Hrgovic (#10)
The 6'6' Croatian has done pretty much everything right so far. His last two fights have been against Daniel Dubois and Joe Joyce, losing on a cut eye in the first and winning on points in the second. Hrgovic has also got victories over Zhilei Zhang, Rydell Booker, and Eric Molina to his name, and he has appeared consistently on Saudi cards. He has also, like many of the heavyweights today, come up by outscoring Kevin Johnson (Zagreb, 2018).
Hrgovic is also no stranger to going on the road. Since beginning his career in 2017, he has visited Latvia, Germany, Croatia, the US, Mexico, Saudia Arabia, Austria, and the UK, winning all but one of his fights.
But if Hrgovic fights so often on the road, then there may be little appetite in Croatia for him to fight. And while only defeated once, there seems little clamour for a Hrgovic fight. The Croatian may be too good at a level to be destined to be a spoiler in the heavyweight division, someone with name recognition brought in as a test for younger, fighters with larger fanbases.
Kubrat Pulev (#12)
Pulev, who beat Mahmoud Charr back in December (and Charr is now rumoured to be looking at a Joshua fight), is 44 years old. The Bulgarian heavyweight, 32-3 (14), has been inexplicably successful over the years, despite being railed by Wladimir Klitschko in five rounds in Hamburg in 2014, by Anthony Joshua in nine rounds in London six years later, and then outpointed by Derek Chisora in 2022.
Somehow, Pulev has managed to hang in there at the top of the heavyweight division, possibly due to the large crowds he draws in Sofia, Bulgaria, and because he presents a reasonable-but-beatable name to the top heavyweights.
But, at 44, it seems that Pulev's time is drawing to a close. If he ever defends his title again, it will likely be in Sofia and against a fighter that he should beat easily, keeping him somehow in the division's slipstream.
Nelson Hysa (#14)
Hyson, 22-0 (20), comes from Albania and is aged 40. Little is known about him apart from that. The only recognisable name on Hysa's record so far is that of Danny Williams, former British champion and WBC title challenger, whom Hysa outpointed in 2022. Williams, by the way, came into the ring that night with a record of 54-31 (41) and, after which, he won one and lost one, then finally called it a day.
If that sounds too negative, Hysa is fighting this weekend on DAZN, when he will face Patrick Korte, 22-4-1 (18), on the undercard of Fabio Wardley and Justis Huni.
Kristian Prenga (#16)
Prenga, 18-1 (18) is also Albanian. Now based in the US, Prenga last fought in April when he stopped Willie Jake Jr in one round in Detroit. There are no notable names on his record and his sole loss came on points over eight rounds in the Netherlands against Giovanni Auriemma in 2017.
Honourable mentions
Mourad Aliev (#17), 13-0 (10), comes from France and is based in Germany. Undefeated and a former Olympian for France (disqualified), Aliev fights this weekend in Hamburg for the European title (exclusively on DAZN) against Labinot Xhoxhaj.
Tony Yoka (#18), 14-3 (11), is still hanging in the heavyweight division, but only just. An Olympic gold medallist, skipped drugs tests, lengthy layoffs and inexplicable losses to Martin Bakole, Carlos Takam, and Ryad Merhy have stifled and dampened Yoka's progress. Most recently, he won a wide decision over Arslan Yallyev in Paris, but not many seem to have noticed. At 33, the door to heavyweight glory has probably mostly closed at this point, but he remains a big draw in France.
It was a surprise to many when Labinot Xhoxhaj (#21), 20-0-1 (16), won the European title last November in Heidelberg, Germany, from Oleksandr Zakhozhyi. The two people probably most surprised were Xhoxhaj and Zakhozhyi. This weekend in Hamburg, Xhoxhaj makes the first defence of his title against Aliev in a bout to be shown exclusively on DAZN.
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